Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Tomatoes are Done

Vacation, the beginning of school, and canning got all mashed up together this year.  I was stressed about it, but after today, I feel so much better.



Ben's first-day-of-school shirt is done and I'm starting on the lunch buckets.


The bushel of tomatoes is canned and the children helped enormously.  Yesterday, I canned 9 pints of pizza sauce and 10 pints of salsa (both recipes from Simply in Season).

Today, Genevieve washed 20 quart jars and Ben placed them in the oven.


Then I ran all the tomatoes through boiling water, dumped them in ice water, and cored them.  The children peeled the skins off all the tomatoes with their fingers.



 I smushed them down into jars, added a splash of lemon juice to ensure acidity, and canned them.  I got 19 quarts.  Everything sealed.  Nothing broke.  There wasn't even a big mess, really.  What a happy, happy sweet summer day!


We celebrated with some candy and a picnic supper at the pool, all of us together. 
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9 comments:

  1. LisaAugust 16, 2012 at 9:16 PM

    Sounds like a great day, Margo. You're like the squirrel gathering his nuts, or, like the virgins with their lamps trimmed. :) Or, Proverbs 31.

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  2. LisaAugust 16, 2012 at 9:17 PM

    By the way, my verification number was 31! ;-)

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  3. RachelAugust 16, 2012 at 11:50 PM

    well done!!! Evie's hair is adorable, too :)

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  4. UnknownAugust 17, 2012 at 8:04 AM

    Wonderful! So glad to hear you had a productive day and ended it with some fun too : ) Sounds just right!

    I tried canning dried beans yesterday - everything sealed and looks like it worked well. I'll open a jar for lunch today and see how they taste ; )

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  5. Sarah BarryAugust 17, 2012 at 10:07 AM

    Your kitchen is lovely in that last photo.

    Yay for tomato success!

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  6. UnknownAugust 17, 2012 at 12:59 PM

    I love the way you include your kids. I did that too and they were much more educated about where food came from and how to cook. Good for you! Nice kitchen too!

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  7. BLD in MTAugust 17, 2012 at 2:50 PM

    Well, that all sounds like it came off wonderfully and I so appreciate how you let your kids get in on all the fun/work. We picked our first tomatoes of the season yesterday and made them into fresh sauce. It was great. Hopefully we'll can some sauce before they all get directly eaten up!

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  8. Sew Blessed Maw [Judy]August 17, 2012 at 10:47 PM

    Fantastic..what wonderful help the kids were to you today..looks like they were having fun too. And everyone got the work done...and had a fun evening.Yea!!!

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  9. AnonymousAugust 22, 2012 at 8:44 PM

    These are the best kind of days with the kids, aren't they?....everyone pitching in, & having something so good & yummy at the end to show for all that work. :o)

    Brenda

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